Part 11 (1/2)

”I don't know what ails me,” George replied, ”but it must be going on half rations kind of frightened me, and now I'm thinking something might happen again; so I'm bent on laying in a good supply while it lasts.”

”We'll have to look around for a whole herd of deer if you keep on that way much longer, George. And I don't know what your folks at home'll do when you get back again. You'll eat 'em out of house and home, that's right,” Lil Artha expressed himself by saying.

George took this chaffing in good part. He was feeling splendidly now, since the danger of their facing real want was of the past.

”Oh! that's all right, boys,” he told them. ”It was only a little while ago my folks were worried about me eating so little, and I guess they'll sing the other way now. Dad'll talk about going into bankruptcy when he watches me put away the food. Seems like I never could get enough again. I want to eat six times a day, and then complain because meals are so far apart.”

”Listen!” exclaimed Lil Artha.

”What did you think you heard?” asked Elmer, after all of them had strained their ears without any result.

”Guess I must have been away off, and it was only a hoot owl after all; but I thought I heard some one cough!” the tall scout declared.

”I wouldn't be surprised if it turned out that way, because it's getting on toward time for him to show up, if he means to come along to-day,”

said Elmer.

”And now that you mention it,” added Toby, ”I remember Uncle Caleb does have a sort of cough. That was one reason he took to the woods, for he said it was going to add ten years to his life, living in the open, winter and summer, and eating the plainest kind of food.”

After that they began to watch more closely than ever, and also listened carefully to catch a repet.i.tion of the sound that Lil Artha believed he had heard.

The great woods in their white snow mantle seemed to be deathly quiet.

The air had become far less bitter, and in the sun it was thawing slightly. Occasionally some branch would manage to dislodge its burden of snow, which was apt to rustle through other branches on its way to the ground. Away in the distance those crows were cawing again, as though disputing some lucky find, or holding a council of war concerning some contemplated movement in search of new feeding grounds.

Beyond these little breaks the silence remained profound.

All at once Elmer gave a low ”hist!”

The others had caught the same sound, and as it was repeated again and again they began to believe that some one must be approaching from the very quarter in which Elmer had said Uncle Caleb was apt to come.

”What's that queer sc.r.a.ping, shuffling noise mean, Elmer?” whispered Lil Artha.

”I bet you I know,” spoke up Toby, also in a cautious tone; ”snow-shoes, and my uncle is wearing the same. How's that for a guess, Elmer?”

”You're right that time, Toby; and there he comes!” was the scout master's reply.

Looking again they could all see the figure of an elderly man, dressed in khaki-colored hunting garments, but warmly clad. He was advancing over the surface of the heaped-up snow, and with the free movements of one to whom the use of snow-shoes was an old story. To see the way he lifted his feet, still dragging the long shoe made of bent hickory, and stout gut that crossed and re-crossed diagonally from side to side, it was evident that Uncle Caleb had spent many days and weeks in the woods when it was impossible for him to get anywhere without the use of snow-shoes.

Toby watched him eagerly. He was evidently thinking that before he left this section of the wilderness he too would be able to walk deftly, after he had been shown the secret of manipulating the clumsy contrivances that served to keep the pedestrian from sinking into the drift.

As the hunter and naturalist drew closer to the spot where he had placed his fox trap they could see that he was getting more and more agitated.

Evidently he must have already discovered certain suspicious signs around that gave warning to the effect that he was about to receive a shock of an unpleasant nature.

Uncle Caleb was almost running now. Had there been a glaze on the surface of the snow he would have fairly flown to the spot; but as it was he floundered more or less in advancing hurriedly.

Now they saw him bend down to examine his trap. The presence of the stains on the trampled surface of the snow would be enough to tell him that there had been a victim held between those grim steel jaws of the Newhouse trap. When he found several almost black hairs present he would also understand that he had caught the coveted silver black fox; and while that might add to his joy under ordinary conditions it was only apt to provoke his additional wrath just then; for those telltale footprints all around gave him to understand he had been robbed of his treasure.

He presently got up from his knees. They could see that he was shaking his head as though he did not like the way things looked. Many winters had Uncle Caleb spent in this vicinity, and never before had he ever known of a case of thievery; that it should come when he had made such a fortunate haul was doubly provoking.

It was hardly wise to carry on the joke any further, Elmer thought; and accordingly he gave the signal for which Toby was waiting. The latter immediately jumped to his feet, and shouted at the top of his voice: